OBJECTIVE

The Department of Correspondence Courses, within Central Hindi Directorate was set up in 1968 with a view to impart knowledge of Hindi through correspondence to the people of non-Hindi speaking Indian states, Indians settled abroad and foreign nationals desirous of learning Hindi.

COURSES OFFERED

The Department of Correspondence Courses of Central Hindi Directorate started an elementary course PRAVESH in the year 1968 with a limited enrolment of 1008 students. The scheme gained tremendous popularity and on the demand of students an advanced course PARICHAYA, subsequent to PRAVESH Course, was commenced in 1973. Apart from these language teaching courses, three more officialese-oriented courses PRABODH, PRAVEEN & PRAGYA were also added in the years 1969,1970,and1972 respectively to arrange postal coaching for the officials of Central Government including staff working in Public Undertakings and Autonomous Organizations. The PRAVESH & PARICHAYA Courses of two years duration each have now been replaced by Certificate Course in Hindi and Diploma Course in Hindi of one year duration each respectively.

Civil Service Course in Hindi was introduced for coaching Hindi to such I.A.S. graduate examinees hailing from North-Eastern states of India, whose mother tongue is not included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India and who intend to opt for Hindi as compulsory Indian Language paper in the Civil Services Examination. Besides Certificate and Diploma Courses, two new courses namely Advance Diploma Course in Hindi and Basic Course in Hindi were started in the year 2003-2004. Advance Diploma Course in Hindi is intended to provide sufficient knowledge of Hindi language and literature. The Basic Course in Hindi was started with a view to impart knowledge of Hindi within short period to non-resident Indians and Foreigners residing in India.

Consequently, the number of students increased manifold, nearly 10,000 students are on the rolls of the Department every year. The total number of students who have so far benefited from these courses is more than 4.18 lacs.

MEDIA

The Certificate Course in Hindi and Diploma Course in Hindi are conducted through the media of English, Tamil, Malyalam and Bangla. Prabodh, Praveen, Pragya, Civil Services Course in Hindi and Basic Course in Hindi are conducted through the medium of English only. The Advance Diploma Course in Hindi is conducted through the medium of Hindi.

SESSION

a.

Certificate Course in Hindi, Diploma Course In Hindi and Advance Diploma Course in Hindi are of one year duration each and session commences from July every year.

b.

Prabodh, Praveen and Pragya courses are of one year duration each and session commences from January every year.

c.

Civil Service Course in Hindi is also of one year duration and session commences from December every year.

d.

Basic Course In Hindi is of 60 hours duration. Classes are conducted thrice a week from 6.00pm to 8.00pm in the Directorate premises.

ELIGIBILITY FOR ADMISSION

a.

Certificate Course in Hindi

(i)

Indians and foreigners residing in India whose mother tongue is not Hindi and who are above 15 years of age.

(ii)

Children of Indian nationals/settlers (irrespective of their mother tongue) residing abroad. The minimum age limit is 10 years.

b.

Diploma Course in Hindi

Besides the eligibility condition as mentioned above, the candidate should have passed the Certificate Course In Hindi of Central Hindi Directorate or the Praveen Course of the Ministry of Home Affairs or should possess requisite language skills.

c.

Prabodh, Praveen and Pragya Courses

These courses are only for employees of Central Government, Public Undertakings, Autonomous Bodies etc. For these courses Central Hindi Directorate functions only as a teaching agency. Examinations for these courses are conducted by Department of Official Language, Ministry of Home Affairs.

d.

Civil Services Course in Hindi

(i)

This course is meant for graduate candidates or for those who are studying in the final year of a degree course, who are from the North-Eastern States of India, whose mother tongue is not included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, and who intend to opt for Hindi as a compulsory Indian Language paper in the Civil Services Examination.

(ii)

Candidate must belong to one of the following states-
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nangland and Sikkim.

e.

Advance Diploma Course in Hindi

(i)

This Course is meant for Indians and Foreigners residing in India and abroad, whose mother tongue is not Hindi and who are above 17 years of age.

(ii)

The candidate should have passed the Diploma Course in Hindi of Central Hindi Directorate or the High School examination with Hindi as a subject.

f.

Basic Hindi Course

NRIs and Foreigners residing in India having valid visa are eligible for this course.

FEE

Sl. No.

Course

For Indian Students

For Foreign Students

a.

Certificate Course in Hindi and
Diploma Course in Hindi

Rs. 50.00 per student per session

US $ 50.00 or £ 30.00 per student per session or amount equal to US $ in local currency in case of foreign exchange restriction.

b.

Advance Diploma Course in Hindi

Rs. 200.00 per student per session

US $ 200.00 or £120.00 per student per session or amount equal to US $ in local currency in case of foreign exchange restriction

MODE OF PAYMENT

Fee should be remitted in the form of crossed Indian Postal Order or a Bank Draft drawn on any bank payable at New Delhi in favour of Director, Central Hindi Directorate, Ramakrishnapuram, New Delhi-110066. Foreign candidates of other courses than of Basic Hindi Course may remit their fee through British Postal Orders. In case of countries where Dollar or Pound is not used as currency or where local foreign exchange restrictions are imposed, an equivalent amount in local currency may be deposited with Indian Missions/ Embassies in that country and the original receipt should be sent along with the application form to the Directorate by registered post.

METHOD OF COACHING

Teaching Course material for all the courses, consisting of kits of lessons and response sheets is dispatched as per predecided schedule. Students are advised to submit attempted response sheets as early as possible. Evaluated response sheets are then returned to the students with grammatical guide-notes. Last date for submission of response-sheets for Certificate/Diploma/Advance Diploma Course in Hindi is 31st May of every year. Last date for submission of response sheets for Prabodh, Praveen, Pragya Courses is 15th November of every Year.

PERSONAL CONTACT PROGRAMME

In order to make good the absence of class-room teaching and to establish direct contact with the students Personal Contact Programmes of five to eight days are conducted at different places according to the concentration of students. During these programmes, class-room lectures are arranged and the students are imparted training in speech, pronunciation and conversation with the help of audio-visual aids.

ASSESSMENT/ EXAMINATION

Examination is held at the end of each course at different centres in India and abroad. Students are awarded internal assessment marks on the basis of performance in their response-sheets and these marks are added to the total marks awarded to them in the final examination.

No examination is held for the students of Civil Service Course in Hindi and Basic Course in Hindi.

PRIZES/ INCENTIVES Etc.

Cash and Book prizes are awarded to meritorious students of Hindi Certificate/ Hindi Diploma/ Advance Hindi Diploma Course on the basis of their examination results. Prabodh/ Praveen/Pragya students are also eligible for prizes, increment and cash incentives from their respective Departments/ Ministries. In addition to these, all students are sent free of cost printed supplementary study material during the courses.